PlumpJack Group Launches Odette Estate

The company's third brand will release a 2011 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon.

By Steve Heimoff

PlumpJack Group, which purchased the former Steltzner Vineyards property earlier this year, announced that it will launch its third brand, Odette Estate, with a 2011 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, based on Steltzner’s Stags Leap District grapes.

PlumpJack Group’s other Napa Valley wineries include PlumpJack, which is in Oakville, and Cade, which is on Howell Mountain.

The Steltzner winery’s first vintage dates to 1977, but founder Dick Steltzner established his vineyards in 1965, making him the second person to plant a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in the Stags Leap District.

Newsom said he and his partners, who include San Francisco billionaire Gordon Getty, may seek to buy more wineries in other Napa Valley regions. “But one thing I've learned in business is to not get too far ahead of yourself,” he added. PlumpJack Group also owns restaurants, wine shops and a ski resort.

“I've always been interested in the Stags Leap District. The wines are so opulent and soft,” Newsom explained. He and his partners named the new winery Odette Estate “to express the feminine quality of Stags Leap District Cabernets.”

The Steltzner wines have been somewhat spotty over the years, something Newsom conceded. “I have enormous respect for Dick [Steltzner], but there's a point in any business where you're not making those investments like you did in the past. And I assure you, we will make those investments,” he said.

Pricing has not yet been established on the 2011 Odette Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, although Newsom said they will be “a little lower [in price] than PlumpJack and Cade.” Odette also will produce a second wine called Adaptation and a Chardonnay.